Daniel Heinzler: “First my master’s, and then join Porsche”

Originally, Daniel Heinzler had planned to visit his girlfriend in China after completing his internship at Porsche Consulting – no more than that. But because his colleagues wanted to keep him on longer, they quickly arranged for an extension of his internship at the Porsche Consulting subsidiary in Shanghai. “Working with my Chinese colleagues left a deep impression,” he says, “especially because of the insights it gave me into a different culture and mentality.”

Born in Karlsruhe in 1989, Heinzler is on his way to becoming a mechanical engineer. He completed a semester of practical training at Porsche Consulting from March to August of 2016. As an intern he supported a team of consultants in their analyses of companies and competitors, and helped to plan and carry out workshops. “We worked hand in hand and spared no effort,” says Heinzler in looking back on a consulting project with the parent company, Porsche AG. “That really brought us together as a team.” When his internship ended, he was accepted into the Talents@CO career development program for top-performing interns. And he even wrote his master’s thesis at the management consultancy. His project included programming two apps for mobile end devices that maintain the technical equipment in the body shop for the Macan SUV series. Heinzler very much enjoyed the combination of gathering practical experience and working on his master’s thesis. “I’m not the type of person who can brood over a thesis the entire time,” he says. “I need contact with customers, and I like putting projects into practice.” In parallel to that, he worked on a big-data analysis that will enable predictive maintenance on the production facilities.

Asked about the best way he could imagine starting his career, Heinzler immediately responds: “Working for Porsche Consulting!” He definitely wants to stay in the automotive industry, “and ideally at some point consult for car makers like Lamborghini or Bugatti.”